Origin

This is based on Sanskrit ārya ‘noble’. Aryan is used by some as an equivalent of the term Indo-European for a language family. In the 19th century, the notion of an Aryan race corresponding to a definite Aryan language became current and was taken up by nationalistic historical and romantic writers. One of these was De Gobineau ( 1816–82), an anthropologist who linked the idea to a notion of inferiority of certain races. Later the term Aryan race was revived and used as propaganda in Nazi Germany.